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<p>I agree. Chicago’s financial aid isn’t as good as Duke’s. And herein lies Duke’s problem in the ranking, and why Chicago will stay ahead of it (at least after next year, as I stated earlier. The reason I’m making this exception is that next year’s results will reflect the financial crisis, and so can be rather unpredictable. After next year, it should have stabilized somewhat). Professor salary is a HUGE component of the ranking. 7% of it, in fact. What percent is financial aid? 0%.</p>
<p>Chicago has realized that with a great marketing campaign and the subsequent increase in general interest and prestige, it can win students over without having great financial aid. And instead, it spends that money on whom? Professors. And these are the ones who are at the heart of the university and whose pay determines the ranks of the universities.</p>
<p>Now, I’m not saying that Duke’s prestige or its overall quality is declining or has been declining. I’m just saying that it’s going to be very difficult for it to climb in the rankings if it continues the kinds of policies it has been standing behind for the past few years, which certainly aren’t bad ones for undergraduates, at least as far as financial aid goes. But major universities (that is, those institutions having more of a graduate-student focus) benefit more by having highly paid professors than by having great financial aid packages, since these professors determine the research capabilities of the school, the successes of the graduate programs and the graduate students, and how much focus they give to the undergrads. (The professors at Chicago for instance all have to teach at least 1 undergraduate class per year, and although it doesn’t seem to be a popular opinion on CC, I think the vast majority of these professors are greatly dedicated to their undergraduate classes when said class sizes are below 30.)</p>
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<p>Well, haven’t we already seen what’s happened? Dartmouth has dropped from being clearly within the top 10 to being clearly outside the top 10 in a matter of a few years. In all honesty, I don’t see it entering the top 10 again. A similar scenario exists with Brown.</p>
<p>And as for those who are saying that I’m just trying to bring Duke down… well, I’m not. I’m interested in what the outcome of the USNWR rankings are going to be, and I try to have as accurate predictions as possible. I actually suggested last year that there was no way that Duke could drop below Chicago and Columbia, and then I realized what Columbia and Chicago were doing… frankly, I just can’t bring myself to believe that Duke will get even with them again in the rankings.</p>